Later St Paul

I started this Thursday/Friday and unexpectedly to sleep.  I had a 5:45 flight so didn't take my ambien but actually got a couple of hours of sleep.  The trip home was a lot better than the trip there.  I got home before 11 on Friday and I am really glad I took the early flight.

Saturday night my sister and I went to see Lizzo.  Brooke was supposed to go with me, but after the whole tumor thing that wasn't possible.  I was a little apprehensive as my sister can be a lot but it was fun.  Lizzo was great.

 

That leads me back to where I left off...

St. Paul has been ok.  The sign advisory group isn't at all an outgoing crew. We did go to a brewery on Tuesday for dinner and went to another really small one after work today.  The airport is way more confusing than it needs to be.  Got my checked bag and took the tram to the rental car area.  They had signs saying what floor each company was on.  Me and another guy hop on the elevator to our prospective floor to be told we had to go back down the elevator, back to the tram to the counter.  It was packed, which I knew wasn't a good sign.  For whatever god forsaken reason there was a 2 hour wait for a car.  It was 4, my hip hurt, and I was just done.  I told them to cancel my car and if I see a charge on my account I was going to call the travel agent we are required to use and go off.  So many pissed of people.  The uber was fine, it gave me an option for a quiet ride and he delivered.  The guy at the hotel desk told me to hurry and run my bags up because happy hour was closing in 30 minutes.  I made it with time to spare.  I am trying my best to get those points!

Rewind back to Thursday of last week.  I had my normal appointment with the rheumatologist I am fairly certain I had bloodwork done when I was there in January, but he said he didn't see them on my chart.  I was supposed to get labs done that day but I hadn't eaten and that is really problematic for me.  I might go in tomorrow when I get home.  He looked at my hip ended up giving me a shot in the hip joint and said if that didn't help our next step is fluoroscope.  The pain had subsided some but walking all over the airport almost had me in tears.

We had a sweet baby Siamese cat show up in the last few weeks.  We think she is pregnant but aren't 100% sure.  We call her Frankie because of her beautiful blue eyes

 There is a male that has been stalking around behind her that we call baby daddy.  Not sure if he is or not but that is his name now.  We had yet another one show up that Dennis calls big boy.  Big boy is a neighbor's cat but the refuse to take care of it saying they can't get him to stay in their house.  On the hood facebook site they said if he created any issues just let them know.  I commented they need to come get him and crickets.  He is really matted and scratched up

Frankie doesn't like BB and smacks him around any chance she gets.  Baby Daddy is pretty feral but yesterday he actually came up to me and let me touch his ears.  We are trying to figure out a way to get them all fixed.  I would love to have Frankie but I don't think Olive would appreciate that too much.  

Brooke has surgery Friday to remove the mass from her stomach.  I sent her some adult activity books and some snarky markers with offensive color names.  I want to send her something once a week while she if recovering.  I need to figure out what I want to do this week.  I could just send flowers to the hospital I guess?  I know she is just ready to get it over with.  I plan on going to LR while she if off and let her husband have a break because she is going to make a terrible patient.  She doesn't want anyone doing stuff for her.  She live kind of out there so door dash isn't an option.  

Not much else going on.  My friend with the felon inlaws is going to be here this weekend to get the house ready to tear down.  The SIL took a plea deal with probation.  The DA said she thinks she is going to be able to stay at the garbage house when she gets out and has told her daughter as much.  She will probably be released mid June and I really hope the house is gone before then.  The ceiling is literally falling in and hey just stayed there spending so much money on god knows what.  I can't even imagine.  I am gong to use that as an excuse not to go on a 2 day work trip this week I think.  I just really don't want to go.

OK, I am getting my annual review this afternoon so I need to get some shit together.

quikish update

 It has been an interesting few weeks.  It feels like so much has happened but when I think back nothing of importance.  

My friend Linda, the one with the SIL and nephew in jail for elder abuse against the MIL came to town last week to meet with the DA.  The nephew had a bail reduction trial and they lowered it from $100K to $25K.  She said nephew called the next day when he hadn't once called since everything went down.  Her husband refused to talk to him but Linda was all about asking him what the hell he could possibly want from them now of all times.  I mean, we all know he was wanting them to pay the $2,500 bond but he wasn't going to ask her.  She has always been the bad guy in their eyes.  He ended up hanging up on her.  He is still in jail so that speaks volumes.  They did get a restraining order for the houses they were living in and destroyed so if he did get out he would have no place to go.  

She packed up a bunch of the stuff from the mom's house and still can't figure out what they did with all of the money.  Over $100K of it was taken out of the bank via in person withdrawals.  I just can't even imagine burning through that kind of money in a matter of months and having nothing at all to show for it.  The good thing is MIL is doing ok in the facility they have her in and is probably better taken care of than she has been since her stroke.  When she spoke to the DA he told her to be glad they found someone else to take the niece because she would have destroyed their family.  From the bits and pieces it sounds like he has heard some the conversations from the phone calls from jail.  He told her she is starting to create issues (not sure if it's the mom or the kid) in the cousin's home and to not feel guilty for putting her in the system when she has to find someplace else to go.  It's really sad because I know going to live with Linda would have probably been the only chance of a somewhat normal life she ever had.  

On a completely different front, Linda has been talking about getting a tattoo for years.  I told her we needed to go see if they had any walk in openings at 'my' studio.  They didn't but she has an appointment for the Sunday before memorial day.  She told her to put us down for 2 because she owes me something big for a belated 50th birthday present.  You know I'm down but no clue what I want.  I'm kind of thinking about a funky shoe from fluevog since for her birthday I flew to DFW and went shopping with her at the new store there.  I have a couple of weeks.

My other friend news (because I literally only have like 3 irl friends), Brooke is still waiting for surgery.  She went for pre-op on Monday and the cancer marker blood test was still over 400 when the max is supposed to be 0.38.  The best case scenario is the tumor is contained to the mass.  She is doing pretty good considering.  Her husband also works for the corps so I have emailed him some to find out how they are really doing.  I need to figure out a care package to send her.  My first instinct is to send her some bamboo pjs but 1) the tumor is in her stomach and so large they will have to open her up to get it as it is way too large for orthoscopic so she will probably be wearing a mumu for awhile and 2) no clue what size to get when you know someone is getting a 20+ pound mass removed.  If things go as planned she will have surgery May 26.

And to round out the depressing trifecta I attended a funeral for a cousin yesterday.  She was 2 years older than me, which is so funny to think about because her and her sisters were always the cool older kids that I could only aspire to hang out with someday.  So funny how age puts two years into perspective.  Her husband found her dead on the kitchen floor early Thursday morning.  They think she had a heart attack in the night.  The funeral was brutal but I did my ADD mental gymnastics to disassociate as best I could and made it through without being an emotional wreck.  I was talking to Brooke on the way home about it and how the music that was popular when we grew up shouldn't be allowed in the memorial videos.  I haven't been to many funerals of people around my age and when they played STP and Chris Cornell it really caught me off guard and almost knocked me out of my disassociative state.  This is when Brooke told me that she had her music picked out and that she had everything written down in a yellow notebook and if anything happens to her to make sure her husband uses it.  I 'laughed' it off and told her that he needs to put the notebook in a safety deposit box or fire safe for when he will need it.  So she told me that last weekend she felt the need to write everything out and if something happens she has it all there and that her husband has a letter she wrote to me and to not let him forget it.  Luckily we were texting - I was putting gas in my car, and I full on ugly cried so hard I thought I was going to puke.  Hell I am crying just writing about it.  I just can't go there.

Enough of that

It isn't all doom and gloom.  I bought my plane ticket for NYC in October and made hotel reservations for a hotel in Times Square.  My older sister and her husband are going.  I have never traveled with them before so that makes me a little nervous.  Our flights are the same time, I am sitting behind one of them and our hotel is at the same location but if it all goes to hell I can do my own thing.  She is supposed to buy tickets for & Juliette for us but that is the only firm plan.  I could do the entire time on Broadway but I'm not sure I will want to once I get there.  I joined a Reddit group and found out the shows that have rush tickets and can always go to more if I choose once I get there.  My biggest fear is that my bougie sister will want to eat at michellan star restaurants for every meal.  Not sure my budget can handle that.  

Tomorrow I have my normal follow up rheumatology appointment and a long overdue hair day.  I am ready to get this blue out of my hair.   

 I'm in the office today and I am about to sneak out.  There is a meeting in the conference room behind me, the person in the office next to me is on speaker phone and someone else is popping balloons.  Needless to say my concentration is shot.  I need to set up my travel for St Paul in a few weeks but I have time and I am 90% sure I would have to go back and fix something if I tried to do it now.

I took off work early on Friday and no one called and derailed my plan!!  I saw Are You There God, It's Me Margaret.  It was so good.  Very nostalgic.  It did bring up a question that I had never thought about.  What did the boys watch while we were getting the period talk?  There was a part in the movie where she was laying with her grandmother and they were talking that almost made me cry because it reminded me so much of the relationship I had with me Granny.  And this would have been one of the books I would have read at her house.  I am glad I went alone.  

Saturday was with my mom.  She called me and said my little sister sent her a text asking if we would go by her house and let the dogs out because she went OKC to visit dr. boyfriend.  I told her oh hell no.  I don't know if my mom told her I said no or what but I didn't go.  I can take petty to a completely different level.  She came up with yet another story about the physical therapist, this time she said if she did the exercises at home she didn't have to come in.  Big surprise she isn't doing them.

Sunday I went to Target and picked up a travel backpack that I absolutely love.  

  https://www.travelandleisure.com/target-made-by-design-viral-travel-backpack-6834839

My laptop bag is a backpack so I probably need to get a sleeve with a strap to use when I travel and put it in the bag.  I got the bigger one because I have a tote that I take also that I stick under the seat.  

My older sister asked me if I was ready to buy plane tickets for NYC.  I know she will get 1st class but I would rather spend that $200+ on Broadway.  I am, however trying to decide if I want to spend the extra for a refundable ticket.  I mean mid-October is iffy with hurricane season and it is my turn to go.  I don't want to turn down the fema pay if it is offered.  

While I was at Target, I got a text from Brooke that she was at the ER with what they thought was appendicitis.  They did a CT scan and found a large 15-20 lbs tumor on her stomach.  They checked her cancer markers but I guess the results take awhile.  She went in today for another scan and they said she has 5 masses with a width of 42 cm.  But they don't show typical cancer characteristics.  She will be getting them removed soon and they want to have the oncologist there just in case.  I am trying not to think about it too much.  I told her that she is only 3.5 hours away.  

For some reason I have been so tired lately.  I went down to my car and took a nap for lunch.  I did the same yesterday.  I started back on Vitamin D, I hope that helps some.   

Squirrel

I think it might be time to break down and start taking ADD medication because I cannot and have been cannoting for a while.  I have a list of things that have to get done today but zero desire to do any of it.  I did get one thing started in the hour and a half I have been working I forwarded an email that I reviewed for the Col and I feel that should be plenty until after lunch 😣

 I have just about had enough with my sisters not helping with my mom.  I am not sure how to go about putting my foot down without making my mom feel like a burden.  I told her last weekend that I have a meeting in St. Paul in May, the same week as her eye shot and she needed to see if Laura could tack her.  She responded that Laura only gets so many days off.  I told her yeah, that's how jobs work, they give you a set number of days off.  Well apparently, my lovely, ever so thoughtful sister is planning a cruise with her new boyfriend so she can't take any additional time off work.  Dafuq?  So, her leave is for her to take a vacation and mine is to take care of mom?  Got it.  Granted I have worked for the same place almost 30 (!) years and I have 178 hours of use or lose that I have to take before the end of the year.  Keep in mind I have used 65 hours so far this year and it has pretty much been all for my mom or Dennis.  No one knows how much leave I get and it's none of their business but the fact that they treat me like my time doesn't matter pisses me off.  I sent a text to my sister and my mom saying that I was going to be out of town and needed someone to take mom to the eye doctor for her 6 week shot.  I got no response.  When I asked my mom about it, she said that Laura told her that she didn't have enough time off.  Well fuck me then I guess.  My mom will have to figure it out.  Through her insurance she gets like 6 shuttle service rides per year, but I know she has already used 3.  I am just over being taken advantage of.  I’m not really sure what the best way to handle the situation is. 

 It doesn’t help that my mom literally doesn’t try to help herself.  The last day I took off to get my hair done my mom called and said she was a dizzy headed (her words) and felt like she was going to pass out.  So, I cancelled my appointment – and can’t get in until May 10^th now, and took her to the ER.  They sent her to an ENT and PT for her dizzy spells because they are thinking it is from the stroke she had last year.  She went to the first PT appointment a few weeks ago and promptly told me she didn’t like it or the therapist and it wasn’t going to help.  I told her she needed to give it a few sessions.  Her next appointment was set for tomorrow.  I asked her about it and she said she cancelled it because she felt better.  I reminder her that she told me she thought she was going to fall down the garage stairs a few days ago.  Well the therapist gave her home exercises to do and that will help.  I asked her if she has done them.  NO, she was going to wait until I was over and made sure she did them correctly.  I felt like banging my head on the wall.  I told her I was over there last weekend and she didn’t mention them.  Well, she didn’t think about it.  I really just want to shake some sense into her.  I just don’t get it.

 Still having issues with my hip.  I took a muscle relaxer yesterday.  The residual is kicking my ass today.  I want to hide out in the bathroom and take a nap.  I went to my normal massage therapist last week.  She thinks it is piriformis syndrome set off by laying in one position for over 4 hours when I got my tattoo.  It makes sense, I guess.  I almost broke down and called the doctor yesterday, but I know he will just refer me to someone else and I have an appointment with the rheumatologist May 11.  It just doesn’t make sense to me to go to the PCP who is just going to refer me out anyway.

 Last week HMF and I went to see Legally Blonde, the musical.  It was really funny and a great break from reality.  I told her we need to have a once-a-month girls night with Dr. Susanne like we used to before ‘Rona.

 My social calendar is filling up for the summer.  I would say it is post covid catch up but I didn’t really do much before covid.  Some of it is work but most of it is actual plans that I will probably regret day of.  So far I have

 May – Cinco de Mayo fest downtown with HMF

           St. Paul

           Lizzo concert with Brooke

June – VACAP training for work (Brooke will be there too)

           Lion King

           Tulsa Tough bike races

July – Book of Mormon

August – Sonoma, CA

September – I hope to catch a hurricane

October – NYC with my older sister if I am still speaking to them at that point.

 Ok, I really do need to get some work done. 

Not sure why I haven't been around, just kind of got out of the habit of the blogger life I guess?

Easter was fine.  It has never been a big holiday with my family.  We always did the new dress (or my Granny made us dresses) and church but I never believed in the Easter bunny, never knew it was a thing until my uncle got married to a lady with kids and they asked about what the EB brought us.  I was like, the Easter what?

SIL had lunch at her house but I didn't go because me and HMF had tickets to the broadway series. We saw Ain't Too Proud, the story of the Temptations.  It was fine but could have been at least 30 minutes shorter.  Jukebox musicals aren't my favorite.  The next show was an add on for Legally Blonde next week and in June the Lion King.  

They sent out the email for season subscription renewal.  I'm not sure I want to renew.  There are a few shows I want to see but there are some I just don't care about at all.  It breaks down to just under $100/show with the subscription.  

Aladdin - I would probably buy tickets for

Beetle juice - would definitely buy tickets for

Hairspray - I would probably skip this if we don’t get season tickets, not particularly excited

My Fair Lady - 50/50. I would probably buy tickets in a fit of extroverted nonsense and regret day of 

To Kill a Mockingbird - loved the book in high school.  Would probably go if HMF wanted to go.

Tina - 100% would not go to this

I would go regardless if we renew.

Last week was one of our annual meetings at Table Rock Lake in Branson, MO.  Brooke is on the committee too and we had way too much fun.  The first night we had a flight of margaritas at an amazing Tex mex place.  My first instinct was to just order the grilled peach margarita and I should have gone with that because it was by far the best in the flight.  They were very strong and I was tipsy going back to the room.  I had a great room.  I got upgraded to a condo (Hilton diamond for the win, thank you fema).  Brooke and I stumbled back to the condo and talked for a bit while she cussed me for getting the upgrade.  

Brooke has been trying to lose weight so I convinced her to split meals.  That worked out great. However, the alcohol consumption made up for it.  Other than the first night with the margarita flight I didn't do too bad.  Thursday night we went to a karaoke night and a good number of them got trashed and sang.  It was fun to watch.  I purposely stayed sober because I did not want to be in the position to be forced to sing.  No one would enjoy that.  We found a cat cafe and went one day after the meeting.  It was so much fun.  I sent Dennis several pictures and he told me not to bring one home.  Then he saw Punkie and said "that one, bring that one back with you."  Thankfully she was already adopted because I don't think Olive or Ninja would appreciate it.  She was still young so her and Mango probably would have been fine.

Mango will always be a kitten at heart.  

Last weekend my mom had another ‘incident’.  I don’t understand it.  I went to a boutique that was having a great sale.  My mom just wanted to sit in the car.  While I was there she calls me and tells me she has to go to the gas station.  I told her that she had the keys to go and come get me after, I was in the middle of cashing out.  Before I got in the car I could see the look on her face and knew I was not going to like the smell of the car.  Sure enough she sat there and shit herself instead of trying to get to a bathroom (there is a restaurant right next door).  It happens often enough that she packs a go bag jic.  I got so mad.  Than I felt guilty and bad for being mad.  I just don’t understand.  I feel bad but I can't freaking handle it.

Work has been good.  Ever since I had the sit down with AP she has been bending over backwards to keep me happy.  I don’t expect that to last long.  I am starting to come down off that high of confronting something that was way passed due.  As a matter of fact I can already start to see cracks.

Weight is holding at 113ish.  I haven’t been to dance in awhile so I am looking flabby.  I will always have body dysmorphia so I will never be happy with how I look.  My knee and hip have been really hurting pretty bad.  I need to make an appointment with my doctor and see what direction I need to go from here.  I have an appointment with the rheumatologist May 11.  I am not sure if I should wait and talk to him or go to my PCP who will refer me somewhere.

About a month ago, on a fluke, I submitted an online app to be an extra on the Hulu show Reservation Dogs (excellent show btw). It is filmed locally, it is the creation of a pretty popular local film maker.  Anyway, on the friday before I left I got an email asking me to come in for a COVID test and be a passenger on a bus for 2 days.  It paid a whopping $80 for the 8 hours, $100 for the test.  They would pay OT if needed.  I had to send an email back turning it down because it was the same week as Branson.  I was kind of bummed.  

OK, I have to get some work done.  It feels like it should be time to go already.

 My ADD is out of control this week.  I have a list of the things I HAVE to get done this week but I just can't seem to get my focus together.  I just feel that low frequency hum in my brain if that makes any sense.  I did take a beta blocker in hopes that maybe at least it might help kind of calm me down a little so my what focus I do have isn't internal.  

My mom is doing better.  We went to a satellite location in the burbs and it was so much better than going to the main.  If they thought it was an actual stroke I am sure they would have sent her to the main hospital but I really didn't think it was that serious based off of the FAST protocol.  They did the CT and contrast CT. and decided it was a lingering ear infection and referred her to an ENT.  She actually got in to see the PA on Tuesday.  She had some was build up that they took care of and said that her, as she puts it, a dizzy headed problem was from the first stroke she had a few years ago and that she needed PT.  We were in and out of the hospital in less than 5 hours.  If we had gone to the main hospital we would have still been waiting in the waiting room.  I used that to get out of going over to her house on Saturday.

I had a meeting with the local DVIS (domestic violence intervention service) yesterday to see about volunteering as an SA hospital advocate.  The meeting was at 1:30 and I didn't get out of there until almost 3.  It was a pretty good meeting in that I wasn't stressed or nervous at all.  The lady I spoke to seemed pretty excited to have me there.  Their volunteer crew is very slim post 'Rona so they are really trying to ramp back up.  She asked me if I would be interested in being on the facilitator team and possibly the speakers board.  I told her I would consider it based on what they provided since I am definitely not  a professional.  I would be working more on the SA side and less on the DV side, which is what I wanted.  Even though I did the Army training there is still mandatory training through the AGs office, which I had figured.  However, the CE credits from NOVA should carry over and I won't have to do a lot of double dipping for CE credits.  I did get my certification approved and for $40 you can register to the civilian side as well as the military so I will be doing that.  I have the email but I haven't received anything in the mail yet.  At least I am not concerned there will be a fluke hit on a background check since I cleared the other one.  Unfortunately they still have to run all of that again, but again, I expected that.   I did tell them I would donate back the money it cost to run the check.  

I don't remember if I mentioned my friend L's issues with her in-laws last week.  Her husband's sister stole almost $200K from their mom in less than 6 months and some very diligent bank worker noticed it and turned it in.  The sister, her common law husband and their 19 year old son all went to jail.  The in-laws live here and my friend lives in the DFW area so they really didn't know it was going on.  A neighbor called them and told them the police were there and they called around and found out.  It is a huge mess.  The mom has 3 houses, the one her, the sister, and her 13 year old daughter stayed in, a house across the street that the sister and her daughter had been living in until the mom had a stroke and needed full time care, and the grandmother's house that the 19 year old son was living in.  They are all shit holes.  The house they were living in is not really habitable.  The mom slept in a recliner and the other two slept on air mattresses in what was the dining room and den.  The ceiling in the bedrooms was falling in and the floor was falling in on the bathroom.  I am not sure how they think they are going to use the defense that they used the money to take care of the mom when the house was in that kind of shape.  Anyway, my friend has two boys, one that will start college in the fall and another that will be 16 soon.  Most of my friends had kids later in life so she is my age and was ready to get them out of the house and take a job with a non-profit or something and live the good life.  Well the 13 year old girl had no one to take her so they came in to talk to an attorney about guardianship and getting her moved to TX.  The girl didn't want to go, L didn't want to take her and it was chaos.  L ended up calling me Monday night as I was on my way to dance in full on panic attack mode.  I met up with her and we talked until about midnight.  I told her that giving custody of the kid to the state wan not something to be ashamed of and if that was the decision she went that was fine, her and her family needs to come first.  She told me that while I was on my way the sister called from jail and her husband was talking to her.  The kid was at a friends house and L said she just unleashed on her about how she had ruined everyone's lives and pretty much everything she thought about her and the situation.  She wasn't on the phone with her but her husband said that instead of taking an ounce of ownership she just said that she was innocent and that L was being a bitch about it.  Whatever she said lit a fire under sister and she used what little resources she had left to find other arrangements for the daughter to 'punish' them.  When L found out she was so elated.  The situation sucks.  I know it isn't the kids fault but it isn't L's fault either and they have a 3 bedroom house with no room for another kid and the youngest boy was legit scared of what the sister might do to terrorize them while she was in jail and what would happen when she got out.  The mother is being moved into a nursing home in DFW where they can watch out for her.  I can't even imagine how stressed she was.  

OK I really have to get something done.  I am going to be in a meeting in Branson MO next week with BFF Brooke so I know I won't be working in my room after hours.  If I can get the top three items off of my to do list this week I will be happy.  Wish me luck. 

Nothing goes as planned

 Sitting in the ER with my mom.  She was really dizzy and said she almost fell a few times, so I took her just to be safe.  I thought I was going to have to throw hands with the nurse.  They were trying to place the IV and my mom has tiny veins.  As they were digging she said ouch and the nurse said “that isn’t helping us”. She did it twice so I told them to get someone else because them telling her she isn’t helping is making it works.  They said well you tense up when you do that.  Like she isn’t tensing up anyway.  I don’t think the nurse particularly cared for that but god damn.

I was supposed to get my hair done but I guess that isn’t happening.  Now I can’t get in until May 10.  I will have to go in and have the extensions either taken out or moved up.  I was really looking forward to hair love.  

Last night I went to the ballet with my sister.  Tchaikovsky, the man behind the music.  It was really good.  I didn’t know anything about his life but apparently he was gay and in love with a violinist but couldn’t act on it.  Some ballets are just so abstract that you don’t know what the point is behind the movements but this story was done so beautifully and purposefully.  

Monday through Wednesday afternoon was our annual ranger workshop.  It was my first time to have to coordinate it and I think it went well.  They put us in a lodge in a state park about 30 minutes from the closest place to eat.  I had the ‘brilliant’ idea of buying stuff for a cookout and making the bosses grill.  I will never do that again.  We had close to 95 people and I charged them $6 each to reimburse me for the food I bought.  I was a nervous wreck trying to coordinate the workshop and the food.  It was cold and rainy so that didn’t help, but they found a dry spot to cook and we had plenty of room to set up and eat.  After hours they set up some corn hole boards and had a tournament.  As much as I hated being so remote, we had no choice but to socialize or sit in your room for the most part. I found out pretty fast that I can no longer hang with the 25 year olds.  They got pretty tanked Monday and Tuesday.  I made it until midnight before I had to retire to my room.  The beds were horrible and the blankets were so thin I really wanted to just go home.  But, it was good to hangout with the rangers and get to know them better.  I remember the days when I would have been right in the middle of it.  I had one vodka and sprite and decided I am too old for that.  We also had pepper spray training where they sprayed some of the new rangers to be able to carry it.  Part of that is them getting sprayed.  It was kinda brutal to watch. I thought they were going to have to get EMS for one but she ended up recovering, but it took her awhile.  

OK, the doctor is here so I guess I better pay attention.